In The Begining

I often have a hard time finding a starting place when it comes to the current political climate and writing about it. Other times I become so distraught with emotion that it is all but impossible to write, especially when one is screaming at the news monitor that, when I am at home, runs constant news.
I have never been so involved in politics in my life, as I am at this moment. I was a student politician in college, and ran in elections, became Class President and was on several councils. That was college though, and soon I found myself on Parris Island with everybody but me doing the thinking. Politics were quickly reduced to a chain of command that I memorized and could recall on demand. Politics were forgotten about.
That way of thinking continued for a long time. I have a business to run, two daughters, and countless projects and “to do” lists that kept me plenty busy. I didn’t have time to devote to activism. I voted, listened to the news, made my own personal opinion about this or that, and went about my life.
In February, 2007, then President George W. Bush presented his budget to Congress for FY2008. It was nearly 3 Trillion dollars. I happened to be, as fate would have it, doing my own personal budget on the kitchen table. I was literally deciding if I should make a truck note, or stretch it out another week in order to pay my mechanic, and pray nothing else happened that week to any of the trucks. When the news person announced the amount to be budgeted, my ears shot up like a dog hearing a strange noise. I realize we were in two separate wars, but still, what on earth could we as a country, possibly need 3 Trillion dollars for? I wrote out that amount like I was writing a check. People, if you have not done this yet, I ask that you do it now. Get a sheet of paper and write a “check” for 3 Trillion dollars. It looks like this…

$ 3,000,000,000,000.00

Go ahead, write that check, and see if you don’t feel that sickening feeling as you go past the ninth zero. There are twelve zeros there friends. That’s how much the President reckoned we needed that year. This is what woke me up. This is what sent me sailing, headfirst into the muddied waters of politics. Honestly? Things have only become worse.